Circles of Time

The dead are buried—a generation lost to war and epidemic—in Phillip Rock's fast-moving sequel to The Passing Bells. For Martin Rilke and his British cousins, the Grevilles of Abingdon Pryory, the howl of shells has been replaced by the wail of saxophones as the Jazz Age begins, and the old values, social codes, and sexual mores that once held the manor together are swept away. But ghosts linger, and that golden summer of 1914, seven years past, tugs at Martin's memory. He throws himself into his journalism and discovers unsettling political undercurrents. Fenton Wood-Lacy faces exile in faraway army outposts, while back at Abingdon, Charles Greville shows signs of recovery from shell shock and Alexandra is caught up in an unlikely romance. Circles of Time captures the era through these strongly drawn characters, set against the fading aristocracy of England, the steamy nightclubs of London, and a ruined Germany caught in a vise of anarchy and economic despair.

"Rock never slips his moorings to the story line; and it's all immensely energetic, top entertainment in the Upstairs, Downstairs vein, complete with bubbling family gossip."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)